Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: Patrice on April 30, 2017, 08:25:53 PM
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On 8-9 Avril we ran a two-days game in a miniature models convention in Séné (near Vannes, southern Brittany) on an "arthurian" theme. Some of the player characters had already appeared in previous games (as PCs or NPCs). The most recent game in this campaign was: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=89551.msg1105616#msg1105616
First day
In the late 5th century, somewhere in the north of Britain…
This village is between the lands of Sub-Roman British (romanised Britons) and the lands of the Picts. It is considered neutral; the villagers trade wine from Gaul brought from the south (by Drustan's clan) for the Pictish famous dairy sheep products and wool cloth.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03416.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1601)
South of a small river, another village which belonged to Marwena a Sub-Roman British lady. This village fell under control of Grima an Treitour, a Sub-Roman British chief of bad reputation, in a previous game. This displeased to Owain, another Sub-Roman British chief who is a friend of Marwena. Owain himself was not playing this week-end but Drustan one of his followers was present with his warriors.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03418.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1603)
In the north, the fortress of Nectan mac Uirp a Pictish petty king.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03425.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1610)
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03426.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1611)
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03427.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1612)
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03428.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1613)
Nectan mac Uirp had news that his brother Talorc mac Uirp, with whom he was in very bad terms, has recently been killed by Scot (Irish) pirates who are now installed not far away.
The whole table! (um, but the castle in the desert in the background belongs to another game…)
(http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/sk/sine2017/DSC08134b.JPG)
Drustan's main concern is to protect the trade route with the north; and, if possible, he would like to retake control of the southern village on behalf of Lady Marwena (to please his chief Owain).
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03421.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1606)
Maun, a British monk, has built a monastery on the coast. He wants to evangelize the Picts, beginning with the village between Christian lands and the Pagans. He knows that the British clans will support him if he can make peace between them.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03420.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1605)
Grima is already planning to expand his power north of the river and to control the trade route. He says it's only to protect the monks.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03422.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1607)
Lady Marwena, deprived of her domains, lives in the border village with her son Gueltaz who has married Gweninn the daughter of the Pictish chief. She is worried because the young couple still have no children; she goes with them for advice to an old female healer who lives in a wood.
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Two Picts bring trade goods from their fortress to the village:
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03437.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1622)
Life in this lovely countryside would be very nice …without two unexpected invaders!
– Eogan mac Fintain, a Scot (Irish) chieftain who acquired some boggy lands in a previous game when he defeated Talorc mac Uirp (brother of Nectan mac Uirp the Pictish chief). However the lands near the border village seem more fertile and not well defended; and his men are complaining about the lack of women. He also heard of a monastery near the coast, he knows that Christian priests often have golden artifacts.
Scot-Irish pony riders and skirmishers come soon near the village; but Eogan hesitates a long time before bringing his main force to attack the inhabitants (he wants to understand first what the other chiefs are doing – and that's not easy).
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03423.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1608)
– Edwin and his troop of Angles enter the valley from the south-east, looking for adventure, for gold, and for lands to conquer if the British clans stay divided. Most Angle warriors are on foot, a few are mounted (but not well trained to fight on horseback). They pass near a pond where an old carved statue stands; they decide to to ignore the idol, but they catch and kill two British bowmen who were patrolling the area.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03430.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1615)
Some time later the Pictish druid comes to pray the Goddess of Water. The Pictish chief, Nectan, is under a magical obligation to protect the sacred springs: if he fails the wine he drinks will for ever turn to vinegar and his mead will taste like piss.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03438.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1623)
In his travel the druid visits the village healer, an old woman in the forest. They are good friends since a very long time and when they meet they have important and secret magical matters to talk about.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03449.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1635)
Three little red hearts above the forest probably mean a three-game-turns blessing of the ancient gods.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03451.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1637)
The two Sub-Roman British chieftains are watching each other. Drustan manages to convince Grima to cross the wooden bridge first with all his troop. Then he places his own troop on the bridge and tells Grima there is no way back.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03433.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1618)
After short clashes with Irish-Scot scouts near the monastery, Edwin see monks walking in the plain undefended. The monks let the Angles come towards them. The Angles capture the monks and push them before their first rank as human shields towards Grima's men.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03432.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1617)
A cloaked man in Grima's troop moves his hands and a wall of fog appears around the monks, who try to run away from the Angles (some very limited "legendary magic" was authorized in the game, only once per magic-user each day). The Angles kill some of the monks, others can escape.
The Angles then go to the monastery to pillage it. They don't find much, it's only a very modest monastery. Edwin says that religious architectural names are too complicated, he believed it could be a rich cathedral or something. lol
Grima attacks the Angles at the monastery, thinking that Drustan would come too. But Drustan doesn't want to help him! Grima fights a duel with Edwin, and is killed. Edwin cuts his head and is happy to embellish the monastery with ...a player's head display.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03435.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1620)
Unexpected events also happen elsewhere.
The Scots-Irish attack the village, defended by its inhabitants and by Pictish warriors led by Nectan mac Uirp who comes hastily from his fortress. The Scots-Irish are cautious and move very slowly, waiting for an opening which happens when Nectan and his pony cavalry boldly pass too close of the few Scots-Irish bowmen and lose some men. The Picts must retreat; the Scots-Irish enter the village. The inhabitants run into the houses, but the Scots-Irish threaten to burn the houses if they are not given money and women. The inhabitants try to gain time; they give trade goods, but it's not enough; then some money; and later, female slaves.
Gueltaz and Gweninn (NPCs played by "Marwena" player, Gueltaz's mother) had been told by the healer that to have children they must go to pray the idol at the pond; they do it; and also that they should rub themselves to a standing stone on the moor in the north. As they walk on the northern moor with only two guards, a small group of mounted Picts (but not Nectan's men) arrive and surround them. They tell Gueltaz and Gweninn to follow them. One of Nectan's men, who was passing by, wants to interfere. The mounted Picts tell him that they belong to Bran mac Taloirc the son of Talorc mac Uirp (late brother of Nectan mac Uirp) and that he must tell Nectan that Gueltaz and Gweninn are now his prisoners, because the clan of Bran needs land to live on, so they will be released only if Nectan gives his fortress to Bran (who thinks his father Talorc should have inherited it) or if he helps Bran to take the broch from the Scots-Irish.
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Second day (late morning)
The terrain has shifted to the north. The two villages are no more there. The Pictish fort is still on the table, but we now see lands north of it, and the old broch occupied by the Scots-Irish since a previous game.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03431.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1616)
Edwin the Angle had lost many men the previous day. He receives some reinforcement and he decides to attack boldly the Pictish fortress. The Picts try to talk with him, but he would not listen:
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03441.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1626)
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03442.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1627)
Bran mac Taloirc wants to take the broch occupied by the Scots-Irish:
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03446.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1631)
The Scots-Irish are ready to defend it (and they want to keep the booty and slaves they had taken in the village).
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03445.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1630)
The Angles fail to take the Pictish fortress, they pass the first walls but they are repelled with heavy losses. They have underestimated the Pictish hunting crossbows, not effective on a large battlefield but deadly at very short range in the narrow passages. Many Pictish warriors (male and female) have also been killed. The old druid died too – he was cornered near a low wall and he preferred to throw himself on the rocks far below.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03443.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1628)
The Pictish chief, Nectan mac Uirp, had just rode out of the fortress with a few men on ponies when the attack began, on his way to meet his nephew Bran mac Taloirc (who had taken his daughter and his son-in-law as hostages). Seeing the attack from a distance he rides back for flank actions, beats the Angle mounted warriors, but falls – almost dead. The retreating Angles take his body; a short time later they negociate with Drustan and Marwena for a truce between Britons and Angles, and they give them the unconscious body of the Pictish chief. A healing test is only half-successful: Nectan is not dead but he has a severe head wound, he lost an eye and he seems out of his mind.
Later in the day
The only Pictish noble remaining in the fortress goes to meet Bran and asks him to release Gweninn and Gueltaz. So many men died fighting the Angles that he can only lend him one single warrior to fight the Scots-Irish as he asked! After some thought, Bran (apparently not so wicked as his father was) releases his prisoners.
Bran mac Taloirc is still fighting the Scots-Irish on the outer walls of the broch. Edwin's Angles (with new reinforcements again…) appear in the valley. Drustan's Britons take position on the other hill.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03444.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1629)
The Scots-Irish see all these enemies coming from different sides; after some more fighting, they decide to leave the place. They return to the sea, taking their booty and captured women with them. They say they will come back in greater numbers.
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03510.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1632)
The Angles enter the broch and decide to stay. Drustan has no objection, he has no real interest there (he had already reached his goals on the first day, now he just supports the interests of Marwena to strengthen his position).
Drustan, Lady Marwena, and Nectan mac Uirp enter the Pictish fortress. Gweninn and her husband join them with joy.
Sadly, they see that Nectan mac Uirp is half-mad. The council of the Pictish clan decides that his daughter Gweninn will be their new chief, and offers to Bran mac Taloirc and his followers to live with them if they accept her as chief (after all it was the same clan before the two brothers, Nectan and Talorc, disagreed). Both groups have lost many warriors and the clan must be reunited if they all want to survive. Bran agrees.
There were 7 players (and a GM/referee taking the picture):
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/dsc03415.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1600)
"Drustan map Fergus"; "Maun the monk" on Saturday / "Bran mac Taloirc" on Sunday; "Grima an Treitour"; "Edwin of Anglia"; "Nectan mac Uirp"; "Eogan mac Fintain"; "Lady Marwena".
Local journalists are often attracted by our gaming table!
(http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/sk/salon-sene-2017.jpg)
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Wonderful stuff and a fine narrative, I particularly like your hill fort.
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Great stuff!! I really like the hillfort as well. scratch built I assume!
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Cracking work and I'll echo the sentiments on the hill fort, very effective :)
cheers
James
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Amazing! A fantastic read.
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Superb Patrice. Lovely buildings and a great read too. I have to get a hillfort now What a great model.
James - ever made a hillfort? :D
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Wow! :-* Amazing looking game, well done indeed.
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Brilliant looking table. Thanks for sharing.
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Simply superb! Great looking figures and terrain. I love the hill fort and the broch. I've been to Dunadd and your hill fort looks quite like the painting of how it might have looked which is on the site. The battle report was really entertaining as well and very inspiring. After reading it I have to game with my Arthurian collection again!
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Lovely,especially like the extras,the idol,the witch and the sheep flock :)
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Excellent stuff!
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Wonderful stuff! Thanks for posting this :D
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Inspiring looking game and fantastic scenario- top marks!
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Thanks guys. :) Yes the hillfort is scratch-built (except the houses on top of it, which are resin) it was finished a few days before the game by the game organizer.
The broch and the monastery cells are also scratch-built (made by someone else) and new hills had also been made. We are lucky these times, some members of our gaming group are very productive.
I've been to Dunadd and your hill fort looks quite like the painting of how it might have looked which is on the site.
That's good praise indeed! :)
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I didn't know that the two players who made the Pictish hillfort had taken pictures during its construction!
(https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/14/79/97/63/fort_p13.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/14799763/1643)
They have just shared them (text in French, but the pictures are self-explanatory):
http://argad.forumculture.net/t1793-la-construction-du-fort-picte#16373
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Some wonderful eye candy in here along with very interesting commentary, especially the pissy mead*.
:-* :-*
Loving the fort too.
Must avoid distraction although that idea is VERY tempting**.
:D
*which also explains a few things about some home brewers..... ;)
** The saving grace being that I have no idea what I would use it for.....
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Great stuff. The hill fort is ace, but I really like the trees, they look like real twigs?
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Outstanding in every way.
Love it.
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Hi folks, thanks for all the compliments about my hill fort, I do appreciate and the more as this is my first realization of a big scenary. I'm usely more involved in figures painting with - as many of you I presume - a "heap" constantly growing ::)
But I had this project from years in my mind and when I saw some falls of Styrodur in a friend's workshop it decided me to act and make a nice surprise to my friends for the game I was going to be the GM.
Only Jacques (with a mustasch on the picture) who helped me was in the secret. He is a very good scenary maker - see the broch in our pictures - and gave me very good advice and help.
Patrice has put a link on our website to show you the manufacturing steps. This will make you improve your french :D
I've been to Dunadd and your hill fort looks quite like the painting of how it might have looked which is on the site
Thanks for the information. I've had a look to the pictures I could find on the web, and I am flattered by the comparison 8)
I'll be in Scotland at the end of the month, arriving in Edinburgh the 25th of may. My trip plan is to go to Dunbarton the next day and to spend the night of the 26th in Oban (I have to assume I also like Whisky) .
As I rent a car, i see on the map I can take the road to Dunadd too and it will be a great pleasure to visit it.
After the night in Oban I'll go to Eilean Donan castle, that I dream to see for years too. Then I will see if i can drive until Culloden - wich might be to far ? - as I have to be In Perth for the night of 27th. Then back to Edinburgh after a stop in Stirling on the 28th with a flight back to France on the 29th.
If some of you guys are on my road at these times, I'll be glad to drink a pint of beer or a whisky talking about our historical adventures with our minis ;)
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I'm with the rest of the community, I love that hillfort. Great story and a battle!
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Just wonderful, Patrice and friends. The miniatures, the tabletop, the scenarios, all came together beautifully. I loved all the great little details across the whole table.
Which reminds me. I've had those model beehives two years now; it's past time I got some paint on them.
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Which reminds me. I've had those model beehives two years now; it's past time I got some paint on them.
Where are they from?
:D
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this is my first realization of a big scenary.
Now we must write a list of all the wonderful terrain elements you will make for us for Xmas. :P
I really like the trees, they look like real twigs?
Yes real twigs of thin and very hard wood, with modelling foliage glued on. The player who made them is a landscape worker for a town council :) he says the higher ones are made from "Australian mintbush" (Prostanthera?)
...I didn't know we have Australian mint growing in Brittany... someone should study the effects of global warming on wargame terrains...
and the small ones are floral parts of Sagittaria (an aquatic plant).
This sometimes causes philosophical debate in our gaming group ::) some players think that miniature trees should stand very high above the miniature soldiers because real trees are very tall, and others think that the trees should be small because our miniature hills cannot be real scale and the trees should not look taller than the hills...
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Where are they from?
:D
1st Corps have a nice range of resin Dark Age buildings and accessories.
http://1stcorps.co.uk/product-category/other/dark-age/
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Lovely work Ehouarn :-*
I'll be in Scotland at the end of the month, arriving in Edinburgh the 25th of may. My trip plan is to go to Dunbarton the next day and to spend the night of the 26th in Oban (I have to assume I also like Whisky) .
As I rent a car, i see on the map I can take the road to Dunadd too and it will be a great pleasure to visit it.
After the night in Oban I'll go to Eilean Donan castle, that I dream to see for years too. Then I will see if i can drive until Culloden - wich might be to far ? - as I have to be In Perth for the night of 27th. Then back to Edinburgh after a stop in Stirling on the 28th with a flight back to France on the 29th.
If some of you guys are on my road at these times, I'll be glad to drink a pint of beer or a whisky talking about our historical adventures with our minis ;)
I'm south of London I'm afraid, otherwise I would meet you for a drink!
But I think you will enjoy the west coast of Scotland. It's stunningly beautiful and full of history.
If you are in Oban, it's a shame not to take the car ferry over to Mull, drive across the island, and from there another short ferry across to the Island of Iona. It's one of the world's great trips to a wonderful historic site (I've done it several times - it's an amazing place :))
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I'm south of London I'm afraid, otherwise I would meet you for a drink!
Ok Captain, i give you a sign when I go to London ;)
Last time was almost 40 years ago, must be some changes I believe ::)
For the the Hebridean tour it will be an other time too :?
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lovely set up!
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1st Corps have a nice range of resin Dark Age buildings and accessories.
http://1stcorps.co.uk/product-category/other/dark-age/
They certainly do.
Thanks for the pointer.
:)
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Patrice, you Argad! guys games are just AWESOME! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
THANK YOU VERY MUCH for sharing!!! ;)
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This is one of those LAF threads I'll bookmark and keep forever as inspiration. Wonderful!
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Absolutely great. Wish i had the time to make a pictish stronghold alike. Very inspirational